India to Host Its Own Mobile World Congress (IMC), With or Without GSMA!

Exactly a month back we informed you about India’s plan to host the first ever India Mobile Congress (IMC) in the country. We mentioned the event would be the governed by GSMA, the body which organises the world’s most popular and largest conference on mobile – Mobile World Congress (MWC). Later GSMA disowned all the claims and released a note stating that GSMA has not associated with any Indian body to bring MWC in India. The statement of GSMA got nothing but an embarrassment to Cellular Operator Association of India (COAI) who apparently jumped the gun and announced the event without taking all the stakeholder into the confidence.

While we thought of it as a lost opportunity, the twist was still left. Today, COAI has again re-emphasized its plan to host IMC, that replicates the model of MWC – without having any association with GSMA, as of now.

Rajan S. Mathew, Director General of COAI, has informed the media that the IMC will be held on stated schedule – from September 27 to 29 at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi.

He also added that the event will be organised by COAI with the support from the Department of telecommunication and Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. Besides, all the major stakeholder of Mobile ecosystem in India have agreed to participate in the IMC. National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom), Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), Indian Cellular Association (ICA), and Internet Service Providers’ Association of India (ISPAI) are some of the major bodies of the ecosystem who have agreed to support the IMC.

The COAI is excepting 8 – 10 countries to participate in the event, considering the growing economy and the size of opportunity window in India. Nearly 8,000 delegates are expected to participate in the three-day event.

Though the IMC would be modelled on MWC, the event would be completely owned by COAI. The GSMA, however, is also in talks to get into partnership.